1938 Chevy does 2010 Peking to Paris

Day 37 - The very last day

2010-10-16T07:55:00.000-07:00

Today is a short 200 km run to Place Vendome in Paris. For some this is the greatest excitement. For others, it is the deflating realisation that a marvellous adventure is about to finish.   For yet others, it is a huge relief to have travelled 16,000 kms over a bewildering array of countries in a car that is generally older than the occupants.

For Clive and Ces, we get the impression that the feelings are a complete mishmash of the above. Sometimes, they seem truly amazed that they have accomplished such a feat.   Other times, Clive seems bitterly disappointed that such small mishaps (the coil and the choke) could have robbed him of a 3rd place trophy.   But mostly, they seem to be genuinely pleased to be home (or nearly home).

Chris, Fern, Marian, Karen and I were in Place Vendome (as well as squillions of others) to welcome the dynamic duo onto the finish ramp.   As usual, there were some unsuspecting local passers by who wondered if they'd inadertently stumbled onto a period film set.

There were many flags from many countries ... mostly English, French, German, Swiss, Australian, American, Portugese, New Zealand, Dutch ... but also Turkish, Russian, etc.   And there were many people with hankerchiefs to their faces ... but they were not mopping up tears of of joy or sadness ... rather they were treating the red eyes caused by the fumes of so many thundering great classic engines.

Here are some images from those final moments in Paris ....

The clown already precedes the main act ...

Fugly thunders google-eyed into Paris ...

C&C a're scared of the big crowds ... one grabs onto the passenger door

Oi ... where'd he come from ... but Ces seems typically unperturbed!!

Clive is hanging on ... he's next to be unseated!!!

Finally, they get to the finish ramp ... just Clive, Ces and Fugly

The happy couple ... with Fugly

Day 36 - Even for someone as eccentric as me ...

2010-10-15T14:04:00.000-07:00

that's a bit much" ... commented Tim Scott when someone made a new suggestion. Tim is the bloke on the motorcyle and sidecar.

Clive worked on Fugly till midnight last night ... in an effort to make it stop as well as go. Unfortunately, different gremlins took hold today ... relating to the motor as well as to the brakes.   First the fuel pump ... but then 3 cylinders kept disappearing.   It was another late finish for Car no 72 ... and as a consequence a considerable penalty at the final control of the final day of the rally.   As a consequence, they dropped some places on the leadership board. Drat and double drat.

The failure of the 3 cylinders turned out to be a stuck choke on one of the 2 enormous carburettors ... the one feeding the rear 3 cylinders of the straight six.   Once diagnosed, it was dealt with quite smarktly just after the final control ... by means of a plastic cable tie and a change of 3 plugs.

Hopefully, Fugly will make it to Place Vendome in Paris without futher issue ... provided, that is, that the French protestors do not get in the way ... they have been making a habit of burning cars in their protest against upping the retirement age from 60 to 62.

As we were awaiting Clive and Ces this evening, the other cars were arriving every few minutes to Troyes ... and being ushered into the underground carpark ... which was filling with really noxious fumes.

A little selection the car park attendants follow:

The hero (ie. lunatic) of the rally must be Tim Scott who rode a motorcyle and sidecar from Beijing to Paris without a navigator ... the sidecar was for spare fuel and water only.   Because his bike was so slow, he regularly arose at 3-4am and rode (and repaired) until late into the evening (often well past midnight) just to stay in the event.

Tim Scott being welcomed by Steve Hyde

Never throw away the wrappers from your beer

Home for 16,000 kms and 6 weeks

Nice graphics

work continues ....

I hope it's not St Valentine's Day!!!

While the event finishes at Place Vendome tomorrow, each of the cars needs to get back to its original home after that. As you might have heard, the French have just kicked off a new season of countrywide strikes, including blockading the petrol distribution depots. Getting petrol might become difficult for anybody who has not already topped up their long-range tanks and is not ready to leave Paris immediately after the prize-giving ceremony ... and while the strikers are still loading up on Pastis overnight.

For and on behalf of CD and Ces

Late update: The 12 hour penalty for late arrival today has demoted Clive and Ces to 14th overall and 7th in class ... while still a decent position, it was a bitter blow after such a long haul back up the leaderboard.

Day 35 - How steep is it ... going down the other side?

2010-10-14T12:19:00.000-07:00

To get into character, we woke early today. We didn't want to get too into character, so we skipped the Soviet style hotel and the sewage-burbling shower. Instead, we headed up to the Col de Cenis at 2,000 metres to await the various cars arriving about midday.

Already there was one of the P2P mechanics (apologies for not remembering his name) and his wife. He had been the mechanic for the 1st half of the P2P and then had to return home for business reasons, but drove back down to meet the P2P for the final few days. He brought his wife down also, so that she could man the passage control that was established at the top of the Col.

P2P cars arrived erratically all through the afternoon ... until well after the sun had disappeared behind the nearby peaks ... after which the temperature plummeted.

The 78-year-old Aussie

The Bentley Boys

Fester, who is Fugly's "never puts a foot wrong" brother.

The German folks' wagon

The only all girls entry

Not sure this was an original factory colour

Now and again, Mr Mechanic would help some participants to fix mechanical issues ... mostly a very hi-tech sequence of actions ...

How to fix an old style bent wheel

... from this car

Finally, about 4:30-ish, Car 72 arrived over the crest.

By now it was getting quite cold, but there was plenty of heat and steam within Fugly. We soon discovered that the cause was plain old terror. You see, the brakes on Fugly had been playing up all day ... and were now virtually useless. Clive and Ces knew that what goes up must also go down. Once they saw the passage control, they knew that the descent was about to begin ... and they wondered how fast it would drop from 2,000m to 300m.

Clive nervously shook my hand, and promptly asked "Is it steep going down that side?". "Yes" I said "same as what you just climbed ... a quick drop from 2,000 to 1,400m ... and then a more gradual descent to 300m". This did not please him, so he and Mr Mechanic started figuring out what, if anything, they could do.

a serious man concerned with a serious issue

Ces, of course, stayed calm and under control as usual. While the blokes were all flapping about under the car, Ces enjoyed a cappuccino inside ... occasionally stabbing on the brake pedal as one or other of the blokes shouted "pump the pedal", "foot off" or "hold pedal all the way down"

Ces drinking and driving

Meanwhile, as we readied to depart, we realised that the window-sticker that we had made was badly worded ... instead, it should have said "Stop! Fugly, stop!!"

Groupies waiting for Fugly ...

As I write, Clive is replacing the brakes on Fugly, so that he can have one last carefree blast around the Circuit de Bresse tomorrow.

For and on behalf of CD and Ces

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Late update (actually very early the next day):

Fugly features in the official rally update for Thursday, complete with honourable mention and photo. The official report also confirms that Clive and Ces moved up yet another place to 9th overall and 5th in class. Just as well those critical timed stages took place early in the day while the brakes had some function in them. By the time Clive reached the Col de Cenis, his standing in the event had been banished from his priorities ... getting off the mountain alive had become the competitive priority.

Day 34 - I've had enough!!

2010-10-13T11:58:00.000-07:00

A night sleeping on a ferry is bad enough.   But a day without competitive stages is worse. All three stages today were cancelled.    Hence the SMS that said "I've had enough!!"

The official reason is that the ferry was late arriving in Ancona. But that is right up there with London Underground's excuse of "leaves on the track".

Even someone who just likes to participate would be really disgruntled at this point ... having had so few competitive stages over a period of 6 weeks. But someone who is seriously competitive (not to mention the financial outlay) would not have participated in the world's greatest race just to tootle around the globe in an old car.

This evening there will be lots of grumbling in the bar in Viareggio.   At least there will be lots of wine and beer to numb the senses.

Tomorrow, we will be up at Lac Cenis to wave at Car 72 ... and to offer our encouragement.   However, given the mood in the car ... the normal risk of spectators throwing missiles at the car ... might be reversed ... :-)

At least on Friday, there is a special stage at the Circuit de Bresse.   This can not have a 3-legged donkey timing constraint and is very unlikely to be cancelled, so all fury can be vented onto the bitumen that day.   We will be in the grandstands with our camera ... ready to capture the moments!!!

Day 33 - coming ashore in Italy under cover of darkness

2010-10-12T14:15:00.000-07:00

Today was the 2nd part of the run across Greece ... complete with 3 more timed stages ... followed by an overnight ferry to Ancona which is halfway up the Adriatic coast of Italy.

We have no information on the events of today, either from Clive or from P2P Central Command, other than an SMS earlier this evening that Car 72 had just boarded the ferry.   Since the ferry would have left Greece over 2 hours ago ... and doesn't dock in Ancona until 10:30 am tomorrow ... we will remain in the dark (excuse the pun) at least until then.

Meanwhile, the official P2P site has a nice clip of Fugly motoring along a wet dirt track toward Erzurum in Turkey.   You can access the video by going to their Video Journal (click here Video Journal) ... and then selecting the video named Erzurum.   First you'll see Fester (the yellow Fangio Coupe) and, then a few cars later, you'll see Fugly. You can't miss it with that wheel bolted onto the roof.

Hopefully, the official classifications will be updated tomorrow morning ... and we can see whether or not the Greek timed stages were further 3-legged donkey stages ... or seriously competitive stages that would have enabled Clive and Ces to move further up the leaderboard.

For and on behalf of CD and Ces

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Early morning update on Wednesday:

Official classifications for yesterday have now been posted.   Car 72 is now 10th overall and 6th in class.

The day's stages were again of the three-legged donkey variety, with most of the able-bodied competitors receiving the same elapsed time.   Presumably somebody who was in the first 10 on Monday had an off or a breakdown on Tuesday ... enabling Clive and Ces to move up a spot.   As any seriously competitive person will tell you, it doesn't matter how you move up the leaderboard, so long as you get there.

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PS:

Fingers crossed for Wednesday evening's blog update ... or more specifically for access to the internet tomorrow evening.   Karen and I will be motoring across Italy today... and staying overnight in a little village at 2,000 metres in the French Alps ... so that we can intercept the P2P as it blatts through on Thursday morning.

We'll be freezing our various extremities ... on the shores of Lac Cenis in the Parc National de la Venoise ... but we'll be waving encouragement to Car 72 as it passes.

Day 32 - what a waste!!

2010-10-11T13:50:00.000-07:00

It's just after 11:00pm in Greece and the telex machine has been silent all day. However, we can tell from the official despatches that Car 72 has been through the 3 timed stages as well as the finish control.

We also know from the P2P command centre that the maximum times for today's timed stages could be easily achieved by anything faster than a 3-legged donkey. Hence the first umpteen participants have been accredited with the same time/position on each stage. More importantly for the competitive drivers, any hope that they might move up the leadership table has been scuppered ... at least for today.

Therefore my theory (for Clive's silence this evening) is that he's blowing off steam in the bar ... and in no mood to be reporting on the waste of a day's competition.

For the sake of the global recovery, let's hope that the time windows on the remaining stages are a little more difficult ... actually a lot more difficult.

For and on behalf of CD and Ces

Day 31 - Moving on up ...

2010-10-10T09:01:00.000-07:00

This morning we woke to a heavy frost and snow all around the car. Luckily it was the start of a transport day during which we were only required to drive from the Abant Lake Hotel to our next overnight stop just North West of Istanbul.

We had set the alarm for 6.00am to ensure that we'd miss the worst of the legendary Istanbul traffic ... but I was awoken at 5.30am by some P2P competitors who were already pulling out of the car. Now that is dedication.

The journey to Istanbul was uneventful and I drove deliberately slowly (100kph) giving Fugly a day off as well. The snow turned to rain once we were off the mountain and, as usual, the water poured through the dashboard and soaked my feet, but c'est la vie! As we moved west, the rain stopped and the sun began to shine. As a result, the temperature rose to 19C ... not bad for a day that started off in snow.

Once we realised that we were driving onto an enormous suspension bridge, we knew that we were crossing the famous Bosphorous. So after several weeks, we had finally left Asia behind ... and we had arrived back in Europe .... fantastic!

Our hotel room has a magnificent view the of the Eastern Mediterranean. Not that we've had time to enjoy it because, once checked in, we started the routine of work on Fugly. This included removing the kilos of mud that had accumulated over from the previous days' timed stages.

In total we spent 5 hours working on the car, whilst other competitors went sight seeing. Perhaps some of this obsessiveness has contributed to us moving up another slot on the leaderboard ... we're now 11th overall and 6th in class. I am still chasing a trophy but time is running out. I spend more and more time thinking about how those 2 coils could have failed us on the 2nd stage on day one!!!!!!! Oh well, I suppose that's motorsport.

Tomorrow we head into Greece and there are 3 more timed stages, so I hope that the time spent on Fugly today will pay dividents yet again.

There is a cocktail party tonight courtesy of the local car club, so Chin, Chin .... update tomorrow.

CD & Ces

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PS from Peter: Istanbul is one of my favourite cities, so I'm very envious. Shame they didn't get to see the sights, but then that's why they're competing in the P2P and I'm at home in my armchair. Maybe they'll be able to stock up at the Spice Market...

... the spices are very practical ... they could even be used for sealing that leaking windscreen.

As you all know, Istanbul used to be known as Constantinople ... as explained in the short historical clip below:

Day 30 - Well, I wasn't expecting that ...

2010-10-09T08:54:00.000-07:00

The morning started dry and cold. The spa hotel has been quite good, but it was still Islamic Turkey, so we were limited to one beer last night.

As Ces signed out for the day's event, we were told that the 1st of today's 5 stages had been cancelled ... for safety reasons. Apparently, the heavy overnight rain had made some of the passes treacherous ... and after the crash of the Alvis yesterday, the organisers were using extreme caution.

As you might have seen on the official website, the crew were safe and well, but their 1930's Alvis was destroyed. When they left the road, the car travelled down a steep 90 foot incline and came to a stop on a rock platform. The bad news was that the rock broke the front axle. The good news was that beyond the platform, there was a freefall drop of over 1,500 feet!

With this on my mind, I drove just like Miss Daisy on the other 2 stages ... and so was not too hopeful of moving up the leader board.

Today's stages were also fairly slippery and dangerous ... but then that is why I do these holidays. Unless you live life on the edge, how do you know you're living life at all? Sitting on a beach does nothing for me, but a rally car skipping along is something to be experienced ... the noise, the smells, the fear .... fantastic!

Today went well and apart from one stage called Canyon, which had big drops, I think we did alright.

However, I wasn't expecting to be practising my snow-driving skills! The routes were so high that we encountered snow on three of them ... in fact, our hotel is blanketed in snow and fog.

Fugly has taken a real battering over the past few weeks and I've included some pics below to show you:

Gear lever re-welded

Watertight dashboard ... not really!!
(Clive, so it runs on gas then ... Peter)

A cracking repair to a cracking wing

Not surprisingly, Fugly is covered in snow and mud and looking kind of tired ... as you can see below

In need of a wash and polish ... and the sort of TLC that a 72-year-old is entitled to

The 72-year-old twins ... Fugly and Fester

Turkish Police keeping an eye on the rally

The unexpected ... approaching this evening's hotel

As for Fugly's internals, the manifold/exhaust started blowing today ... but the engines is still going like a train (good job, Howard!).

As I was typing, yesterday's results were posted here in the hotel ... and I am pleased to say that we're now 12th overall and 7th in class ... apparently I was in the top 5 on all stages yesterday ... not bad for Miss Daisy!

CD & Ces

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Late evening update:

Despite what Clive claims about being in 12th overall and 7th in class, the official P2P website places them in 11th and 6th.

Yesterday they were 5th, 3rd and 4th in the 3 timed stages.
Today they were 4th, 6th, and 5th on stages 2, 3 and 5 (stages 1 and 4 were cancelled).

Day 29 - I smell blood in the water ...

2010-10-08T10:24:00.000-07:00

Late post:

As of late Friday night, Clive was unaware of the final classifications but there had been talk of the 1st timed stage being excluded from the results because of the accident.
As of Saturday morning, final classifications from Friday still have not been posted.

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I woke today at 3.30am. Of course, all I could think of was that this would be a day of competition. So I couldn't get back to sleep ... such was my level of readiness.

Once we got to breakfast, I sensed that many of my competitors were not relishing the forthcoming day as much as I was. They were complaining of fatigue, colds and general malaise whereas my mood was bouyant.

Ces asked "What's up with you?"

I said "I smell blood in the water!"

She knew I was ready to race! I'd been waiting for bloody weeks ....

Once we pulled away from the car park, I immedialty felt that the brake adjustments that I'd carried out the night before were bang-on. The car was running perfectly. The only dampener was that rain had started falling.

The rain was falling heavily as we made our way to the 1st stage some 170 kms away from the hotel. We proceeded to the start line, where we were warned that the conditions high up in the mountains were very slippery.

After the count down, we flew away from the line and began the climb up into the clouds and along the side of a mountain. All was running well. After about 30kms, I approached a hairpin left which marked the end of the mountain and indicated the start of a big drop. The car started sliding ... almost uncontrollably ... until I steered hard left and released the foot brake ... in an attempt to make the front bite and turn in.

The car responded, we made the turn, but immediately the back tried to overtake the front. I had no choice but to steer directly towards the cliff edge. Once again the front turned in, so now I applied power and maintained the opposite lock to keep us from dropping over the edge.

This "tank slapper" was repeated and repeated and repeated ... four times in total. By the time we'd emerged from the bend and the car was under control, my early morning passion to win had turned into a simple desire to live! Over the rest of the stage, the car was sliding everywhere, right and left. Even on the uphill sections, the wheels would spin and the car would choose it's own route.

Later the same morning I would learn that another car had indeed left the road and this was driven by our friends Mike and Anne Wilkinson. As I write I understand that the there was "only" a 90 foot drop ... so their injuries are minor. The car is still being assessed.

The big scare put a halt to my early exhuberant pace ... the 2 later stages were slow but controlled. I started today 9th in class and 15th overall so time will tell where we are now.

There are 5 short stages tomorrow and Time Controls along the route that you must "make" to avoid penalties. The total route today including stages was over 700kms and that is a lot for an old car. Accordingly, we expect some competitors to fall by the wayside tomorrow.

Fugly is running very well and the radiator is holding position thanks to a number of cable-ties!

CD & Ces

(PS: Stay safe, Clive. It's the most important thing. ... Peter ... and I believe that I speak for all of your blog-readers)

Motor Sport is Dangerous. But only while you're still alive.

A photo summary of the last week

2010-10-07T11:59:00.000-07:00

As before, the photos are in chronological order ... from top to bottom ... so that you can just scroll down.

isn't this where we left off last week ... remember the snow-capped mountains?
Hmmm ... but the road wasn't as good as this!

Hmmm ... money and taste were never synonymous!

Grandad's MG

Clive says that this is Turkmenistan ... ok ... we take your word for it.

Ces looking more elegant than ever ... and Clive looking like the dude!
(George Clooney, look out!!!)

That famous Pontoon Bridge ... where the bloke wanted both USD and TMM
(Remember Turkmenistan Manats)

Turkmenistan ... not sure if it's where Clive barfed or ... well, how can I put it?

Still in Turkmenistan ... but Clive is not able to party
... but at least there's a bed, a light, a phone, a radio!

Luxury in Iran .... they had Ahmedinejad to thank for this
... and he never even turned up.

Now where would you get flowers from the local Police ... Iran of course

... but check for radio-microphones all the same.

They really know how to make foreigners comfortable!!

A Muslim Mechanic with Lotus-coloured headscarf ...
... and stopwatch ... bravo!

The beard's gone ... hmmm ... was that a statement?

Custom Chevrolet Luggage ... colour-coded to gender ...
radiation resistant ... works in hotel room or just on the floor!

Capturing the hearts and minds of the locals ... while keeping fingers and toes crossed

Mount Ararat ... site of the original Noah's Ark

The Noah's Ark that Clive had in mind!!

Beautiful scenery ... but still accelerating hard to get out of Iran

Day 28 - It's good to be back ...

2010-10-07T11:11:00.000-07:00

... not home ... just simply in a country that sells beer!

I am sure Peter will find a way of posting all the pics we have available, but rather than give you a total recap of the last week, here is a typical day on an Endurance Rally ... that is, today:

Get up at around 5.30am and get ready to find what today's strange breakfast is ....
Pack extensive baggage ....
Dress appropriately ... both of us! (didn't you only have 1 scruffy outfit each? ... Peter)
Head out of Iran towards the Turkish border, collecting suitable items of propaganda enroute to win over the hearts and minds ...
After 2 hours, enter Turkey ...
Ces removes headscarf ...
I put pedal to the metal ... pointed straights toward the pub ...
Notice Mount Ararat (Noah's Ark) along the way ..... mash the accelerator into the floor ... (isn't Noah's Ark a pub in West Sussex? ... Peter)
Notice that speedo hit 149 kph in a 120 zone ...
Notice policeman stopping me ... for speeding..... welcome to Turkey ...
Once he finds out I am a policeman (well, I used to be!), we're all mates ... and it's photos all round ...
What a shame ... the poor German chap behind wasn't so lucky ... he probably copped my fine as well as his own .... he, he, he!!! ...
Arrive at hotel at 15:21 ... our ETA has been 20:17 ... if only it had been a competition day!!

Last week in summary:

Ah ... pretty park ..... I think I need the loo ....... God, I need the loo ....... God, I feel ill .......... God, I am ill ......... I hope the border crossing into Iran goes quickly.....

(Clive, don't you think you shudda been saying "Allah, I feel ill" ... Peter).

Well, 3 hours wasn't bad ..... I hope this hotel is nice .....

What do you mean you've sold our rooms??

No, I am fine with sleeping on the floor ... after all, I only paid £30 grand to enter this rally!!!

.... and no, I don't know what my government thinks about Iran's nuclear policy .....

Mmmm, ahhhh ... a beer ..... ah, ye're up to date ... aren't ye? Good, 'cos I gotta go to an important rally briefing ... it's on fluids and dehydration ... yeah, that's it!

PS: The timed stages start again tomorrow ... the car is running well ... and I am feeling great!

CD & Ces

Day 27 - another day of drudgery!

2010-10-06T08:35:00.000-07:00

Heavy rain last night ... so both of today's stages were cancelled ... you can imagine the effect that had on our competitive participant ... hence Clive's description of today as another day of drudgery.

On the positive side, the scenery over the mountains was really spectacular ... but they could only spare one eye for the scenery because the standard of driving by locals was really, really scary.   One minor consolation was that the brakes started to fade really badly going down one of the hills ... almost exactly where one of the two timed stages would have been held. Phew!

Of course, the radiator mounts are disintegrating more each day ... coat hanger wire, cable ties, trouser belts, and Ces' tights are all being used to keep the radiator from falling back into the fan.   Ces doesn't need her tights right now anyway ... well, not since she inherited Clive's trots.   Ces was probably also less bothered about the cancelled stages ... imagine telling Clive in mid-stage that she needed to spend a penny.

Tonight they are in Tabriz, just 300 kms short of the Turkish border.   They do have a hotel room, but a far cry from any Intercontinental.   Apart from the tensions of being in Iran, they are also conscious of being just 250 km north of the Iraqi border.   For you geography buffs, Tabriz is in East Azerbaijan.   Ehh?   Yes, East Azerbaijan is a province of Iran.   Azerbaijan itself is about 150 kms further north on the Caspian Sea. Of course, you already knew all that ... right?

Tomorrow's agenda is 300 kms to reach the Turkish border, and another 300 kms from the border to Erzurum in Turkey.   The schedule allows for a 2 hour delay at the border, which might or might not be enough, but perhaps Clive and Ces will be lucky since they are closer to the front of the field.

In Erzurum, Clive has high hopes of having email, internet, etc so that he can report on the ups and downs of the competition ... that'll take 60 seconds at most ... but he can also upload all of the photos taken in the last week ... that might take a little longer.    So, fingers crossed for some exciting images tomorrow night ... rather than just more words.

For and on behalf of Clive and Ces

Day 25/26 - It's definitely an endurance event, but for the wrong reasons!

2010-10-05T10:32:00.000-07:00

The crossing into Iran was relatively quick and uneventful for Clive and Ces.   Apparently, only a skeleton staff was on duty, so the first few cars breezed through, but then a backlog quickly built up.   As a consequence, some of the later cars didn't get over the border until 5:00pm ... and then had a 6 hour drive to the hotel (of which more later).

Because of these delays, Monday's two long-awaited timed stages were cancelled.

During the morning and the border crossing, Clive was still feeling really rough and he painted a wonderful image of the dangers (to one's trousers and shoes) of using a squat toilet when one's bowels are out of control!!

If you've been following the official P2P website, you will have read Syd Stelvio's report about the wonderful welcome that the participants received in Iran.   Clive's opening words in his report were that Syd was on a different rally to many of the participants (or perhaps Syd had yet to hear from all participants when his update was written ... we'll find out tonight ... Peter).

Clive and Ces had no problems between the border and the hotel in Gorgan and it is true that the police were handing out flowers.   But at the same time, a female participant was hit by a rock thrown by onlookers, a male participant was hit in the chest by a bottle, and an Australian crew was robbed by 8 guys on motorbikes. This was bad enough, but then they would have arrived at the hotel in Gorgan to discover that all P2P rooms had been cancelled. (According to the official site, the cancellations related to the schedule/itinerary of the President of Iran ... Peter).

After much too-ing and fro-ing, Clive and Ces got to share a room, well, the floor of a room, with 6 others (a combination of competitors and film crew).   By that time, Clive's border-barf had gone, but he was so knackered from the previous 24 hours that he slept like a baby (he didn't mention the use of a nappy ... Peter).

With no timed stages today, and another grotty hotel this evening, Clive is not happy with the way the P2P has played out in the last week.   He said:

"It's hard on the cars and crews ... endless boring transport sections ... separated by different shitty hotels ... few speed stages ... and half of those end up being cancelled anyway.   It's definitely an endurance event ... but for the wrong reasons!"

"Without timed stages ... or some sort of test ... I can't move up the leaderboard ... I didn't pay tens of thousands just to (~~expletive deleted~~) participate ... I'm here to compete!"

As for the Chevy, it continues to run well.   Clive dumped 40 litres from the sandy tank and that seems to have solved the fuel problem. Now all they need are lots of timed stage so that Fugly can flex his muscles.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) is another 580-odd kms and, fingers crossed, 2 timed stages.

For and on behalf of Clive and Ces

PS: I had considered downloading some images for this ... but when I googled Iran on the internet ... I found some very disturbing images ... so I concluded that it would be wiser to wait until the crews were well clear of Iran ... Peter

Day 24 (more) - an official despatch from the 'Stan Front

2010-10-04T03:15:00.000-07:00

You knew it had to happen ... sooner or later ... but definitely before they left the Asian continent ...

... no, no major problem with the car ... didn't get lost in the desert ... avoided being arrested

... instead it's the dreaded Delhi Belly, Montezuma's Revenge, Lüstülistan, Uzbek Bowel, Border Barf ...

Clives continually strives to lighten the weight of the Chevy.

More seriously, it's not very pleasant to have fever-like sweating and hallucinations during the night, and then have to drive 600+ km in 30-34C heat the following day ... on an empty stomach. Even though it is always said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, the hotel in Ashgabad does not do breakfasts. Instead, Clive had several anti-biotics for breakfast.

The car is running fine except for the sand in the fuel tank problem. Apparently the bigger 60 litre tank has a lot of sand in it, so Clive and Ces have to clean the various filters several times a day (Clive tries to clean out his own insides at the same time as the filters to limit the number of roadside stops). They are hoping to pull out the tank in Iran and flush it clean.

The radiator mounting also broke again, in a different place, but was easily fixed.

At the time of writing, they should be at, or past, the Turkenistan-Iran border. Therefore it's long sleeves and headscarves at all times. And Clive's beard is gone.

For and on behalf of Clive and Ces

Day 24 - no news is good news ... isn't it?

2010-10-03T13:13:00.000-07:00

Okay, one more night in Turkmenistan ... and then it's on to Iran ... and more timed stages. We all wish Clive and Ces well in the timed stages, but also in getting through Iran without incident. Quietly, we hope that they have no intentions of going hiking or back-packing in the next 3 days ... at least until they get into Turkey.

In the meantime, Clive's recent comment that it's "Boring and hot as well!" will probably continue to be the over-riding sentiment in Car 72.

For and on behalf of Clive and Ces

Day 23 - Ever crossed a pontoon bridge?

2010-10-02T10:08:00.000-07:00

Another medium-long dull day at about 370 km ... and reasonably uneventful.   Well, uneventful compared with some previous days, but hardly a typical weekend jaunt in your old classic car.

First there was the 4:00am wakeup call ... but they're getting used to that.   Then quickly fill up the 60 litre endurance tank with petrol and head off.   They were a little concerned at the colour and state of the fuel ... which seemed to have some sand-like brown stuff in it.

Hmmm ... let's just blitz on and see what happens!

Some time later:    They didn't have to wait long because Fugly just stopped on the highway.   Immediate panic set in, because between the offending petrol station and the side of the highway, they had been calculating the "what ifs" relating to fuel.   They were fairly sure that the small tank (the 40 litre one with good fuel) would not get them to tonight's hotel ... and there were no more service stations enroute!!

So it was bonnet up, laminated checklist out, as Clive and Ces both bend over and get to work.   While Clive works on the inline filter behind, Ces works on the goldfish-bowl filter upfront. When the process has been completed, the checklist is ticked off and they're on their way again.

Next is the pontoon bridge where the fare is listed as TMM 20/USD 12. (The Manat is the unit of currency in Turkmenistan ... Peter)

Ehh, let's pay the 20 local widgets.   Ces says.
He wants the 12 dollars.   Clive responds
We haven't got 12 US dollars, he needs to take the local widgets. Ces responds rather firmly.   Besides, why won't he take the 20 whatsits?
A few minutes later, Clive comes back and says He is taking the 20 whatsits but he needs the 12 dollars as well ... it's not 20 or 12, it's 20 PLUS 12 ... otherwise, he says he won't let us across!!.

Much to-ing and fro-ing followed, some strong language was used, separated by some periods of silence.

Eventually 12 dollars were found somewhere in the car (probably next to those keys in the safe place ... Peter) and they were on their way across the pontoon bridge.   The episode was, according to Clive, quite an adventure and definitely eliminated any chance of them being bored on this particular day.

Now they're at their hotel, which is very basic but friendly.   Mood of the evening is all's well that ends well.

For and on behalf of Clive and Ces.

PS: Photos will be received and loaded in due course (ie. within a week) but I know you readers need an image every now and again, so that you can sit back and let your imaginations take over, so here you are ...

This may very well be the same pontoon ... it's in Turkmenistan.

Day 22 - lotsa zzzzzzzz's and late breakfast in Samarkand

2010-10-01T13:43:00.000-07:00

Clive and Ces are relaxing in Uzbekistan ... but really impatient to get to the next timed stages ... scheduled for Iran.   They are currently chilling out but bored in Samarkand.   Apparently fuel has been a serious problem ... shortages across Uzbekistan and difficulties buying at just any old service station. When they have bought fuel, it's has had a very cloudy colour and has been fouling the spark plugs.   Much of Day 21 was run on 5 (rather than 6) cylinders. But other than the missing cylinder, the car is running really well.

Tomorrow, Day 23, Clive believes that they will be crossing over the border into Turkmenistan. He's correct, and therefore he can expect much hanging-about sometime during the day. But then the distance is only just under 400 km so they can accommodate a delay.   In addition, the hanging-about will be very pleasant in the 28C temperatures (rather than the -10C of Mongolia).

Less pleasant is the evolving stratification of the participants.   As the days pass, a non-Darwinian unnatural selection is taking place.   An aspect of this has already been alluded to on the official website, relating to the hiring of transport planes to leapfrog a couple of days' driving to Almaty. The upper end of the stratification would seem to be modelled on the officer class of the old British army (ie. class distinction).

Day 21 - to the beautiful Samarkand

2010-09-30T13:39:00.000-07:00

One assumes that today is another uneventful day. I hope that Clive and Ces are not staying in an Intercontinental Hotel again tonight because, if they are, they'll be bored as usual. And that would mean bored all day tomorrow as well since it's another rest day. However, my guess is that they're in a very average hotel since we've heard nothing over the wires.

We might hear some news tomorrow if Clive can find an internet connection. How hard can that be? After all, Samarkand was where the very first paper mill (outside China) was built in the 8th century. So it's not exactly nowhere.

Not a bad place for a RestDay ... I wonder if Clive and Ces will go out and explore.

Clive has some work to do on the car to sort out the wobble. He had given his spare king-pins to another car who couldn't continue without them. That other car, in turn, had loaned his spare set to the race leader. Apparently the whole topic was getting a little sensitive and political until bad luck intervened in a good natured sort of way. The bad luck was that Clive's king-pins did not fit the other car, and the good natured outcome was that the king-pins were returned to Clive. Conveniently, for Clive, any sensitive politics would now only be between that other car and the race leader. Phew!!

Otherwise, a set would have had to be couriered to Iran.

And we thought that this was just a whole group of pals having a jolly good romp across Asia.

Day 20 - It's ok, I've left the keys in a safe place!

2010-09-29T07:42:00.000-07:00

As Peter has already mentioned, we had another huge transit yesterday (Tuesday). About 750 kms which was fairly uneventuful, apart from the 5am start. Uneventful is definitely a blessing during these long transit days.

The car developed a very scary wheel wobble at around 50kph which was easily fixed by travelling at 100+ although this was an issue in the towns! We thought it was the king-pins playing up, so last night upon arrival at the hotel, we tightened them and went to bed with fingers crossed.

However before going to bed, there was the matter of dinner. That was a complicated affair with a choice between chicken with potatoes or nothing with nothing. The chicken was lovely ... well, it did kinda look like chicken! It reminded me of a Frankie Boyle joke where the diner asked:

"Is there a vegetarian option?"

to which the answer was:

"Yes, f*uck off!"

Another early start this morning but a short day to the Uzbekistan border. All started well but the wheel-wobble was back with a vengance so I am no longer sure about the king-pins. I've tightened all the steering system, so we'll see tomorrow. For now we're in another Intercontinetal Hotel so all is very nice.

Getting here was an adventure, especially at the border when Ces asked

"Clive, where are the car keys?",

"It's ok Ces, I've left them in a safe place!" I replied sheepishly.

I'd actually locked them inside the car! One broken rear quarter light later and we were away .... luckily it's a nice temperature here (about 25 degrees) and the broken window is on Ces' side!

Exhibit A and Exhibit B - door handle that fell off in Mongolia
... and keys that Clive put in a safe place!!

We're a little bored (Clive, that's twice that you've been bored in an Intercontintal Hotel ... Peter) and waiting for the next time trials to start on Day 26 in Iran ... then we hope to start moving up the leaderboard. Each day, cars break and some have even caught fire (Car 22 was burnt out) ... while this gets a notice on the board, it's not the way I want to get to the top of the board!

That's it for now, I am off for a beer with the huge wad of money I've been given. It makes me feel like a millionaire, but is worth only £30!

This is only enough UZS to buy a round of drinks!
(UZS is symbol for Uzbekistan Sum, the local currency)

CD & Ces

Day 19 - another long day ... 734 kms to Shymkent

2010-09-28T11:57:00.000-07:00

It's past midnight in KZ without any word from Car 72. However, I notice from the official classifications that Clive and Ces have registered at the finish control, so clearly all is as well as can be expected.

I do not hold out much hope of frequent updates, except tomorrow when they have only 200 kms to cover. And since they will be sitting at the Kazakhstan-Uzbekhistan border for hours and hours, Clive will have plenty time to craft a creative SMS update.

And then they have a night each in Tashkent and in Samarkand ... such legendary places are definitely worthy of a photograph and a despatch ... unless of course, 100% of the energy in Car 72 is required to ensure that the 1938 Chevy gets through to Paris.

Finally, I leave you with an image of the countries through which the P2P will be passing in coming days. It's challenging enough to be doing Kazakhstan - Uzbekhistan - Turkmenistan - Iran - Turkey. But if they stray a little, especially to the south, they would have Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria to add to those other well known tourist destinations.

The path of the P2P over coming days ... not a relaxing part of the world, is it?

Day 18 - I'm bored!

2010-09-27T08:06:00.000-07:00

Clive sent a brief message today saying that there would be no update, because nothing happened, because the day was really boring, and because he spent it filling in time.   So much for the anticipated excitement of spending the day lying by the pool with a beer in his hand!

I assume that the boredom is a consequene of having 2 rest-days back-to-back. Once all of the repair work has been completed, there is nothing to do ... clearly culture and sight-seeing are not on Ces' laminated check-list.

By the time he sent the SMS (5:30pm KZ time), Clive was having a medicinal gin and tonic, which was to be followed by an early night, in turn followed by a 5:00am wake-up ... and finally a return to the adrenalin of survival and competition.

Tomorrow night, they will still be in Kazakhstan, but then they have a couple of nights each in Uzbekhistan and Turkmenistan, followed by 3 nights each in Iran and Turkey.   It will be interesting to hear about their interactions with the locals in those countries, and whether or not they're as amicable as they were in Mongolia.

Apparently the hotels for the next umpteen nights are also really grim ... they've been advised to use their own sleeping bags.   Hmmm, Clive didn't explain whether those sleeping bags were to be put atop the beds, on the floor of the bedroom, or down in the garage next to their car.   I guess they'll make that decision when they get a first sighting (or whiff) of the hotel each evening.

One thing is sure; he won't have to fill in time again for a few weeks.

For and on behalf of Clive and Ces.

Day 17 - Too many bubbles!

2010-09-26T06:01:00.000-07:00

Well as I mentioned in yesterday's update, we're now staying at the Intercontinental Hotel in Almaty and I can honestly say that you can never have too many bubbles in your bath or in your champagne!

We spent all today giving Fugly the once-over and found that the offside king-pin is very worn. We've decided to leave it for the time being and pack it daily with grease and consider a change in Turkey or Iran dependant on the wear rate.

Yet again I had to adjust the brakes and this time even the professional assistance found that the brakes are not running true, meaning we both look like nodding dogs as the brakes grab and release as we come to a halt .... good for the neck muscles! (and probably for re-effervescing the bubbles from the previous night ... Peter)

The spigot bush has once again broken free and whilst we have a replacement that was sent from Autosportif in the UK, I have decided to leave it alone for the time being. Thanks to Mark Owen of Owen Motorsport in Oxfordshire for his opinion which played a significant part in the decision process and allowed me to concentrate the rest of the day on general maintenance, such as gearbox oil top-up, engine oil, fuel filter changes, air-filter cleaning, spanner checking and those bloody brakes! (for your sake, Clive, I hope that you have been scrupulously following Ces' laminated check list ... Peter)

As I type, it's 5.30pm here and I've finally finished ... having started at 8.30am this morning. It's been a long, hot, dirty day ... but now my thoughts are turning to beer!

Tomorrow is another rest day and I intend to have a day away from that bloody car and make use of the hotel pool instead!

We leave at 6.00am on Tuesday and the carnage will start once again as we head through Kazakstan and into Uzbekistan which, apparently, has a fuel shortage. To slightly misquote what Confucius would have said "we will be living through interesting times"!

CD & Ces

PS. I miss my Dad

(PPS: I've no doubt that your Dad is having a great time watching your antics. And I doubt that he has any trouble with wi-fi connections or Russian interfaces getting his updates ... Peter)

A pictorial record of westward progress by Clive, Ces and Fugly.

2010-09-25T08:11:00.000-07:00

To make it easy for you readers, the photos are in chronological order from top to bottom ... I know how everyone hates having to read from bottom to top ... it's just not intuitive in our imperial culture.

So going back to Day something or other, here we have ....

Rush hour on Mongolia's M1

Fugly disgorging its contents for transfer to the Yurt

High density living in Mongolia

Not bad eh ... if only we weren't so tired to enjoy it

Nice line of pinafores out here ...

Fugly in full flight ... or was it a stoppage ... because it seems uninhabited!!

Nice photo of Ces ... but who's that bloke with the 'tache? ... let's zoom in a bit

Hmmm ... still no idea ... I hope that Ces knows what she's doing!

Heeya ... circle the wagons ... hide the womenfolk!

Clive says that this is somewhere ... oh, ok ... that narrows down the options.

Presumably this is "somewhere else" ... but with snow on them thar hills!

Right ... now pay attention ... this is where the quiz section starts ... especially for all you mechanicals types reading the blog.

Identify the part of the car ... and the problem

Suggest a mechanical benefit achieved by the finger action ...
and what part of the car needed the said benefit ... and why?

Is Ces sweeping the floor of Fugly ... or about to blow a poison dart at Louis Chevrolet?
(for a bonus point, when did Chevrolet ban the Chevy abbreviation?)

Now we are moving from the mechanical category of the quiz to the managerial category ...

What is the motivational benefit of having a scruffy Managing Director standing around grinning?

What is good project management? (hint: "the early bird catches the worm")
The question is: Was the bird a little too early for breakfast?

Clive provides a locational clue to the answer of this picture ... he says that it is in the middle of nowhere.
I wonder if nowhere is anywhere near somewhere.

Clive says that this was Wash-Day.
The question is: Was this photo taken before washing or after washing?

Ok, that's the end of the quiz. Now let's get back to the human interest aspects of the P2P, especially those aspects that involve pain and suffering.

I know that's frost on the car ... but it's only a short run to the outdoor showers
... here, don't forget your ladle!!

Let's smile for the camera ... even if we are suffering
... because this the very last night in a tent.

These were my favourite gloves ... and see what the gearchanging has done to the left one
... I wonder what "glove" is in Russian!

and the final photo ... Clive is moving into his truly artistic phase ... because he labeled this photo as Man on Bike ...

Man on Bike

... if you could just put the man in formaldehyde and pretend you were related to Damien Hirst ... you could sell that photo for £1000's.

PS: For those of you who were curious about the banning of the name Chevy, I can confirm that Chevrolet banned the use of the term Chevy in June 2010. Seriously. But after getting a pasting in the press and by Chevy owners, Chevrolet revoked their decision.

Day 16 - Where do I start?

2010-09-25T08:10:00.000-07:00

Probably with a big thanks to Peter Horan for keeping the blog alive during my very extended periods offline in the middle of nowhere.

I've uploaded some photos from the route so far, but the stay in the yurt seems an age ago. Tonight we're in a 5-star hotel in a place called Almaty in Kazakhstan and it really is a very welcome respite from camping and shitty hotels along the way!

The camping in Mongolia was great with all meals provided by a company called Nomads. They built showers, toilets and even a beer tent, although the beer tent usually ran dry after it sold 10 bottles!

When I would go for a call of nature at 4am, the view was spectacular. With -10C, no clouds and no light pollution, the stars were amazing. I could see more stars than I thought possible ... it was truly magical.

The people have nothing of material value out here and yet they are so friendly. No stone throwing (as was common in North Africa) and no begging. They are so dignified and so generous with what they have. They are fascinated by the cars as well as by us in person, because we tower over them. Apparently we all look the same!

The Russians have also been approachable and the police are very keen to get a photo of the car but not for a speed prosecution!

We're both tired and our overalls are filthy, so much so that even other competitors have commented!! But then again we don't have a change of clothes for every night!!

We now have 2 rest days in Almaty and tomorrow we'll prepare the car so that it's for the next long haul.   But at the moment, Fugly is running well.   As of today, we're 12th overall and 9th in class ... not bad considering that on day 1, we broke down and dropped to 43rd place!

Our aim is still to make Paris rather than the podium, but there are some timed stages in Iran and I am looking to use them to improve our position.    Realistically the early breakdown cost us a top 3 place, but I am still pushing for a top 5!

It's a long way still to go ... 4 more weeks ....  a lot can still go wrong ... but a lot can also go right!

Clive & Ces

Day 15 - "it's a bit like Glastonbury!"

2010-09-24T11:14:00.000-07:00

That's exactly what Clive said to me today ... it's a bit like Glastonbury.   So I raised my eyebrows (I can't do one eyebrow like Roger Moore) and asked:

"which aspect of Glastonbury ... did you have music?"
"... well, no!"
" ... did you have mud?"
" ... well, no!   ... and we didn't have argumentative ghosts either!!"

BTW, it was the open spaces and the dust that he had in mind ...

As you can probably tell, Clive of Kazakhstan was in fine form today.   The car ran like a dream, once he got it moving (see later).   The distance was long, but the Chevy was very happy powering along the empty highways once it was given copious amounts of good fuel.   They were the 2nd car to arrive at Usharal, tonight's camping ground, not far behind their nemesis in the yellow Chevy.   (Hmmm, Clive would be happy ... Peter)

All of the people along the way were very friendly. Even the police, who keep a very tight rein on speeding in Kazakhstan, were friendly to those cars that were pulled over for speeding.   Clive was pulled over for doing 68 kph in a 60 zone, so we're talking Swiss or Australian little-or-no tolerance. Nobody seems to know why Kazakhstan has decided on such a tight speeding regime, but it is such that the P2P has no timed stages in any part of the country.   (Hmmm ... no timed sections ... friendly police ... I wonder what Clive has been smoking to have him in such good spirits ... Peter)

From a purely competitive point of view, this is all good news for Clive ... because it means miles and miles of highway speeds ... for which the Chevy is entirely suitable.   Well, more suitable than all those old and quirky cars and especially more than the old British cars which were only designed to last till the next pub.

But let me get back to the reality of the P2P ... and especially the accommodation.    This morning, they awoke at the Gulag Hotel and went to have their first proper shower of the week.   You know that this isn't going to go well, don't you.   The initial moments of the shower were quite pleasant, but the more the shower delivered hot water to flow down the hole, the more the sewage system provided warm, well, err, emm, dark lumpy stuff to bubble its way up from the same hole. What followed was a sort of spread-eagle posture ... standing on the raised sides of the shower base ... with head leaned forward to get some water from the non-adjustable shower-head.

Not surprisingly, Clive is quite clear that he'd take camping any day over a hotel in the this part of the world.   Yes, you read that correctly .... Clive would rather sleep in a tent than in a hotel.

Mind you, the camping is quite entertaining as well.   For the outdoor shower at the camping area, they are provided with canvas cubicles ... and a ladle.   The idea is that you ladle the shower water over yourself ... as if you were basting a turkey.   Needless to say, everyone is dreaming of the Intercontinental Hotel in Almaty tomorrow night ... so it'd better be good.

Before I forget, let me come back and explain my earlier remark about "once they got it moving".   In Clive's enthusiasm after his deft repair work yesterday, he over-adjusted the brakes to the degree that the car wouldn't move away at all this morning.   An initial cold chill was followed by sniggers and laughter ... after a quick adjustment in the opposite direction, the Chevy pulled away quite smartly.

Finally an amusing anecdote related to the Kazak who greeted Clive with "ello mate!" in fluent English and with a local London accent.   Clive asked if he'd been working in London.   No, he'd never been overseas, but he learned English in school and used to watch TV to improve it.
"From TV, really!   Which shows did you watch?" asked Clive.
"Eastenders" replied the man.

For and on behalf of CD and Ces

__________________________________________________________________________________

PS:  As I mentioned, all crews will be sleeping at the Almaty Intercontinental tomorrow night.   For their sake, I hope that the reality of the hotel is not still "coming soon" .... as the images on their site suggest.

Day 14 - Where locals glow in the dark!

2010-09-23T08:26:00.000-07:00

Late breaking excitement ... Car 72 gets its photo taken ... and posted on the official P2P website ... if you listen really carefully ... you can just hear Clive shout ... "now, now, pull up the hand-brake!!"

Clive Dunster and Cecilia Agger - Chevrolet Fangio Coupe

__________________________________________________________________________________

Today was a very long transport leg ... as Clive put it "mile after mile after mile after mile through nowhere" finally reaching Semey in Eastern Kazakhstan.   On the positive side, the day was uneventful and the border crossing from Russia into Kazakhstan was a dream ... taking only one hour in total.

Unfortunately, the car run like a pig all day ... virtually no brakes ... virtually no gears ... and a throttle that kept jamming wide open.    Just as well that there were no timed stages ... although the jamming throttle might have given Fugly some inspirational times.

Once they arrived at the hotel (of which more later), he set about trying to fix some of these problems.   As soon as he stepped out of the car, he noticed the puddle of oil.   No, not another problem.   Of course, when in doubt about what to do, always but always, open the bonnet and stare intently at whatever is in there ... whether or you have any idea of what to do.

In this case, looking under the bonnet was an inspired decision ... because it was quite obvious to our driver/mechanic that an oil pipe related to the airfilter has become detached.   Not only was it spewing oil everywhere, but it was sitting on the throttle preventing the return spring from doing it job.   Fantastic, two apparently serious problems fixed in a matter of moments.

Encouraged by such a feat of engineering brilliance, Clive of Kazakhstan moved onto the brakes, the fixing of which was a simple matter of adjustment.   So life is very good at the end of today ... and beers are in order.

Which brings us back to the hotel, called Hotel Nomad. Clive described it as "quite special ... quite unbelievable ... like social housing ... with no bar, no restaurant".   Apparently they have to head to a cafe down the road for something to eat ... just as well that this wasn't last night when crews were arriving, hungry and tired, for many hours after midnight.   Oh, and the cars are just parked on the street.

Needless to say, there's no wi-fi, so photos will have to wait until they get to Almaty on Saturday evening.   In Almaty, they're all booked into the Intercontinental Hotel, so they're assured of all luxuries including wi-fi.   They might even be able to charge their drinks to their room. And they have 2 whole restdays in Almaty.

For and on behalf of CD and Ces

PS: But before we leave today's adventure, let me explain an interesting feature of the Semey region that Clive didn't mention in his despatch.   In case I didn't get an update from Clive today, I had done a bit of reading about that part of Kazakhstan, so that I would have something to say to you readers (although as an Irishman, that should never pose a problem).

I discovered that Kurchatov, a town some 160 kms west of Semey, is much more famous (or infamous) than Semey.   Kurchatov was the ultra-secret city where all Soviet-era nuclear testing took place.   It was named after the USSR's nuclear physicist who was leading the development of nuclear weapons.

Igor Kurchatov ... friendly looking chap, don't you think

Between 1949 and 1989, 456 nuclear tests (340 underground, 116 in the atmospheric) took place here. Is it any wonder that there are few tourist facilities in Semey. It problably also explains why the cars are just parked on the street ... their headlights will probably stay alight all night ... of their own accord. And they'll be easy to find in the morning!!

Day 13 - To Russia with Love ... eventually

2010-09-22T12:03:00.000-07:00

I wasn't anticipating much of a report from Clive today because I knew that it was going to be a really long day.   But, according to the official site, the day was even longer than everyone feared.   Not only were there interminable delays at the border, but an extra 120 kms was added to the route by the local authorities.

Car No 72 was not mentioned in the official despatch, so we can only assume that they had no mechanical mishaps.   All the same, I suspect that words were few and far between inside the car as exhaustion started to make a comback.   But at least they can look forward to the comforts of a Russian resort hotel and especially to that wonderful herbal decoction.

ring, ring ... ring, ring ... gotta go ... it might be Clive of the Orient
___________________________________________________________________________________

Yes it was Clive.   It was just coming up for 1:00am in his part of Russia ... and he was sitting on the side of the bed ... waiting to get into it (the bed that is).
___________________________________________________________________________________

As anticipated above, today was a bit of a nightmare from an organisational point of view.   Clive was quite cross that the organisers had scheduled over 500 km on the same day as a border crossing.   Everybody knows that border crossings in this part of the world are a nightmare, so the organisers should not schedule lots and lots of driving as well.

As it was, Clive arrived at the hotel after midnight but fortunately the hotel chefs had kept a buffet warm for the participants so that they could get a quick bite to eat before shuteye.   Getting a beer was a different problem because Clive had spent his meagre supply of roubles on fuel, and the hotel wouldn't allow him to charge a beer to his room.   So he had to organise a one-man rouble whip-around among his competitors for the price of a beer or, more accurately, for the price of several beers.

But I've gotten ahead of myself. Let's roll back to Mongolia.   First wake up was at 3:00am ... to put on the longjohns and anything else he could find in the tent. Their campsite was at 2,600 metres (that's about 8,000 feet for those of you still in imperial times) and the temperature was -10C (only the Americans won't understand Centigrade and Celsius so they'll have to look up the conversion themselves).   After the customary de-icing of the cars, and of the bodies in the outdoor shower, they drove the 18 km to the Mongolian-Russian border. Where they waited ... and waited ... and waited ... for 4 hours.   Eventually, they fired up the cars and moved the short distance across no-mans land to the Russian side.   Where the wait was almost as long ... only 3 hours ... but more good-humoured.

By now much of the day had already passed and they still had some 700 km to cover ... meaning that many many kilometres had to be driven in darkness.   And did I mention without brakes?   Yes, there's a problem with the brakes, which Clive intends to sort out during the 2-day break in Almaty, whenever that it (eh, Clive, that'd be on Sunday and Monday ... Peter).   Meanwhile, the footbrake delivers about 5-10% of what it should, so Ces is helping out by using the handbrake whenever Clive shouts loudly enough.

Oh, and the headlights are still set for UK roads, so they're not doing a good job of picking out the cows that seem to be everywhere.   But they do light up the cows that are in the middle of the road ... in which case Clive shouts loudly ... and Ces uses both hands to yank up the handbrake.

The gear selection is still proving to be a little of a nuisance ... double de-clutching is required most of the time ... and the throttle is sticking somewhat.    Well, not so much sticking as becoming very non-linear.   This is thought to be a consequence of the conversion from US LHD to South African RHD (where the car itself was sourced).   Apparently everything goes from the pedals through to the engine bay on the RHS, and is then hooked across to the LHS by a series of rods and pulleys, from where it resumes its course as if it were a LHD car.   (I wish I had a picture of this ... a Willy-Wonka-built Chevy ... Peter).

Despite the litany of woes, Clive is clearly getting the hang of the car because he reported that he's getting the arse out much more often, and with considerable confidence in the consequences.   He's also lifted the speed considerably.   For the first time in days, he's been able to get proper petrol and the impact of the higher octane is spectacular.   130 kph is the order of the day where just over 100 kph was the best hope in Mongolia.

They're also continuing to climb their way up the leadership board but the climb is getting tougher.   After his problems at the beginning of the rally, he was seeded down with some very slow drivers, so he wasted a lot of time overtaking the fuddy-duddies.   How he's among drivers of a similar calibre, in equally quick cars, so while there's less overtaking to be done, each overtake is that much harder.

With lots of days still to go, and the occasional overtake along the way, Clive is confident that they can continue clawing their way back up the board, at least as far as the position they had before their problems started.

I can't give you their overall positions yet because they're not available, and I suspect that the officials have already gone to bed (it's now about 2:00am their time).

I hope they sleep well, because I suspect that tomorrow will be another late finish.   Officially the distance is 548 kms ... but there also another border crossing ... this time from Russia to Kazakhstan.

For and on behalf of
CD and Ces

PS:   Clive said that he has sprouted a considerable beard, so I demanded a photograph. Actually I'd like lots of photos, but one should be of the growth.

Day 12 - "Please show our positions on the blog"

2010-09-21T05:49:00.000-07:00

_________________________________________________________________________________

Late update on leaderboard:
(WARNING: Before you draw any conclusions, please read the footnote at the end of the blog on the interpretation of positions)

According to official results, Car 72 is still 15th overall and 9th in class.   The ghost's re-interpretation of the results suggests that Car 72 has moved from 24th overall to 23rd overall. Now go and read the classifications footnote..
_________________________________________________________________________________

In today's satellite link, Clive remarked (again) that the mornings are incredibly cold ... that all of the cars are iced over ... and that one of the more challenging aspects (presumably to his manhood) was that the showers, while good and hot, are outdoor!!!

Tonight is their last night in a tent for a few days, which would have cheered them up if they'd realised it.   It seems, however, that their time-window is limited to the previous hour and the next hour because Clive was not sure of his accommodation for Wednesday night, other than that it would be in Russia.

Fugly seemed to be running well today and the only reported issue was with a rear wheel bearing.

Clive wasn't sure of their competitive positions but felt that he was still moving up the pack. Then Clive asked if I could report their class and overall positions each day on the blog ... and that he'd telephone through the precise positions when he got them later.

Now, does that sound like the request of a man who is cruising to the finish in Paris!!   Nope, I didn't think so either.   But it did sound like our man Clive.   If you'd like to know their leaderboard positions, just continue reading ... there's a little essay on the scoring at the foot of this Update.

Tomorrow, Day 13, they have a short 18 kms to the Russian Border, an unknown duration at the border itself, and then over 550 kms before they reach their hotel tomorrow evening in a place called Belokurikha.   Looking at GoogleEarth, that 550 kms will not be pleasant, but at least they can look forward the comforts of a Russian resort hotel.

I'm sure that you know this already, but Belokuikha is at the foot of the Altai mountains and is famous in Russia for its thermal springs.   I quote from their marketing material:

Altai is the habital of maral - the animal which is considered to be the symbol of health and sexual strength. Panto hematogenic substance is actively used at the Belokurikha resort in the treatment of various diseases. Effective technologies are created on the basis of applying panto extract.

Therapeutic muds are also widely used at the resort. Medical use mud tampons and applications shows successful results in the treatment of internal diseases, genital and musculoskeletal systems. Herbal teas made from vital Altai herbs are used in the complex treatment of different diseases and give sufficient results during rehabilitation programmes. We also apply herbal decoction and tincture microclysters, phytobathes and mini phytosaunas.

Clive's closing remarks today were "it's going well mate, but it's bloody hard work!"   I look forward to his closing remarks after he's had his herbal decoction tomorrow evening!

Signing off for CD and Ces.

Overall and Category Position of Car No 72

Bear with me on this because I'm still trying to unravel the scoring process.   On the official sites, there appears to be a 1st, 2nd, 3rd Overall Position within each Category, rather than across all cars.   Then, even more puzzling, there are 2x 1sts, 2x 2nds, 2x 3rds under Class Position within each Category. Perhaps there are secret classes within the 3 listed Categories.

Have a look for yourself ....  http://www.pekingparis.com/results.php ... you will see, for example, that in yesterday's results, Clive was listed as
          Overall Position - 15 and Class Position - 9 (Vintageants).
But then Car No 27, also in Vintageants, was listed as
          Overall Position - 26 and Class Position - 9.
Not too big a deal, I hear you say, but then the Irish crew in Car No 104 (who are in Classics, not in Vintageants) were also listed
          Overall Position - 15 and Class Position - 9
that is, the very same as Clive and Ces.   Hmmm ...

Getting to the bottom of this from the other side of the world is not easy.   But I did download the times from the official site into Excel and re-sorted them ... firstly using total cumulative times across the entire field ... and then using cumulative times within Vintageants Category.   On this basis, Car No 72 would be 24th Overall and 15th in Vintageants Category.   But I'll await confirmation from Clive before going to the FIA.

Day 11 - "By slowing down, we go faster"

2010-09-20T03:00:00.000-07:00

..
Transcript of two long voicemail messages received from Tent No 72 just outside Khovd

Hello all ... not sure what Day I last reported on ... but I'll go back only as far as Day 7 ... because that morning was so cold (-3C) that I can't remember anything before it.

Day 7 was not very exciting ...  almost nothing happened.   We started out from a place in the middle of nowhere ... we drove for hours and hours through the middle of nowhere ... and we stopped that evening in the middle of nowhere.

Day 8 was still in the ****end of nowhere ... still unbearably cold ... the camping was very grim ... but the day's drive was a lot more exciting.

The corrugations on the roads have to be seen to be believed .... it seems that the big trucks remove the surface layer ... and then the wind does its work and coats everything in fine sand.   But whatever causes it, the corrugations shake everything apart ... even the door-handles fell off today.   I have photos to prove it ... but you'll have to wait until I get to an internet connection to see the evidence.

Day 9 was a continuation of Day 8 in that more pieces broke ... and general disintegration continued.   The main problem was that the gear lever snapped off ... leaving a 3 inch stub.   This made gear-changing quite awkward ... which was especially annoying because we had to drive across a lot of soft sand.

Fortunately a Frenchman called Michel (Car No 84) had brought an arc-welder ... as you do!! ... and when hooked up to a generator at the campsite ... we were able to reattach the broken part of the gearlever.

Day 10 was fantastic.   We hit a top of 108 kph across the flat open plains ...  that was as fast as Fugly would go. Naturally the mechanical disintegration continued ... the gearbox started to whine badly ... the gears become more and more difficult to select ... the horns stopped working ... and the wheels started to wobble badly ... the kingpins are worn.

Hungarian Bob ... one of the camp mechanics and a top bloke ... suggested that we pull out the gearbox and take it apart.    He said it would take just 25 minutes ... and was only a matter of a few bolts. Sure enough, 25 minutes later ... Bob had the gearbox lying all over the tent ... and declared that the spigot bush had fallen out.   Apparently that's something that never happens ... but it did ... anyway Bob hammered, pushed, shoved and glued it back into place.   The gearbox no longer has a whine ... but as a result the clutch is now slightly out of alignment.

The non-working air-horns resulted from 2 problems ... firstly they had been mounted upside-down ... do they filled up with water on one of the crossings ... and secondly the fuse for the RH fuel pump was wired to the horns ... which we discovered purely by accident.   So we bought and fitted new air-horns and rewired the fuses.

As I mentioned in an earlier despatch, the radiator mounts have broken twice and are now quite loose ... but this looseness seems to be beneficial ... because there are no rigid mounts to break.

Through all of this, the engine has continued to run beautifully ....

As you may have seen, we set 4th and 5th fastest times yesterday on the timed stages ... this was despite the firm resolution to stick to our new goal ... of just making it to Paris rather than trying to win.   What we have discovered is that by slowing down, we go faster ... and in addition, the navigation is easier.

Today, Day 11, is a rest day ... but despite having had showers, we still look a complete mess ... well, at least I do ... and my voice is croaky ... but we're still having the time of our life.

CD and Ces

(Clive is using a little known converse of Einstein's Theory of General Relativity.   As you recall, Einstein theorised that the faster you travel, the slower time passes.   Having disproved the usefulness of Einstein's theory by rattling the Chevy apart at very high speeds, Clive is swapping over to the little-used converse of the Theory ... The slower you drive, the faster the times.   ... Peter)

Day 9 & 10 - No news is good news!!

2010-09-19T09:28:00.000-07:00

If any of you followers has a project meeting or a sales conference in Mongolia this week, could you pop across westward a little (toward the Russian and Kazak borders) and ask Clive and Ces what's going on. Probably a good idea to bring some home comforts as well, because Clive and his beloved tent will be together for another 2-3 days, so his teeth might be shown to any visitors.

If you need directions, here they are:

Easy ... remember that the 1907 crews had no maps ... cos there were no roads!

As I mentioned in the last update, I was sure that the resolution to cruise to the finish was just exhaustion speaking.   This remote diagnosis was confirmed in today's official classifications ... Car 72 was 4th and 5th fastest outright in today's two timed stages.   Wait until he disconnects the cruise control.

Because of their energetic cruising, Clive and Ces are continuing to climb up the leadership board.   And with 22 competitive days to go, they can overhall both the bright yellow Fangio Coupe and that 78-year-old Aussie in the Holden.   Yes, I know that I said he was 72 last time, but precision is not the strong point of a ghost, even one living in Switzerland.

Also, sorry about the lack of an update yesterday.   Apart from having neither news from Clive nor a change in classifications (because it was a day without time penalties), I arrived home from the Dolomites to find that I had no internet myself.   Of course, if the ghost had any empathy, he would have set up tent in the garden, but instead he and Mrs Ghost had a bottle of wine and went to bed.

Tomorrow is a rest day for the P2P at Khovd. So I'm expecting pages and pages of updates from our fearless C&C in their '38 FCC.

Day 8 - Clive has a big moment!

2010-09-17T11:12:00.000-07:00

How quickly the benefits of a rest day evaporate.    Exhaustion is setting in again.   And mechanical mishaps are undermining the best laid plans.

All crews are sleeping in tents again tonight .... regular tents, rather than the luxurious yurts ... so communication media are limited.   Despite today´s ordeal and the post-arrival exhaustion, Clive managed to send a dispatch by SMS.   It arrived late in my afternoon, so quite late in his night.   And if the written word could slur from tiredness, his SMS would have slurred.   If the written word could tremble from apprehension, his SMS would have trembled.

After 12 hours of driving, over the worst roads that Clive had ever seen, he and Ces arrived at Uliastay (still in Mongolia) with the top and bottom radiator mounts re-smashed.   While I gather that the outdoor shower at the riverbank campsite was better than expected, Clive was struggling to put the image of a large Mongolian truck out of his mind.    Earlier in the day, they narrowly avoided a head-on collision with the truck which was completely on Clive and Ces´ side of the road.

Clive´s message ended very uncharacteristically ... by saying that his new goal was to cruise to Paris.   I have no medical background, but my guess is that exhaustion was speaking.   I´m sure that Car 72 will be back in competitive mode after a good night´s sleep.   Mind you, that good night´s sleep might not materialise until they next sleep in a real hotel.   And the next hotel is not scheduled until Wednesday 22nd when they spend a single night in Russia.

In the overall standings, Clive and Ces have moved quite a bit up the leadership board.    Balancing Clive´s update against the official report, my guess is that attrition had more impact today than raw speed.    So when Ces takes the crew of Car 72 through her checklist tomorrow (including a check of the leadership board) the Dunsters will be inspired to something more than cruising tomorrow.

Sleep well, Clive and Ces ....

The reality of tonight´s sleep

Clive´s mind as sleep completes its repair job ...

Day 7 - Dear Nuala, your generosity knows no bounds ....

2010-09-16T08:51:00.000-07:00

I had a phone call from Clive via the satellite phone the night before last ... and an SMS at 3:00am this morning ... promising an update on proceedings.   Yeah, I know that today was another back-breaking day ... and I know that they´re sleeping in a yurt again tonight ... but a ghost has commitments and deadlines as well!!!

The call on the satellite call was a hoot ... partly because of the time delay between speaking and receiving ... partly because I could hear Ces doing the washing in the background ... but mostly because Clive was so excited.    He explained that the P2P is the best thing he has ever done in his life ... but also the hardest ... and he tried to persuade me to take part in the next P2P ... which is in 2013.   I´d better start buying those lottery tickets.

He said that it´s quite dangerous ... and seriously scary when you have trouble out in the middle of the desert with no people, houses or cars to be seen anywhere in any direction. It´s not like the Paris-Dakar (or whatever it´s called these days) where there always seem to be helicopters just a rotor-blade away. The most amusing anecdote was of the system for collecting broken-down cars ... they put your car in (not on) the back of a truck ... and you have to stay strapped into the seats of your rally car ... while the said truck bumps and grinds its way over rutted roads for as many hours as are necessary to reach something.

He also said that the yurt tents were very "snug and cosy", but I think he might have been smoking yak-dung at the time.

On the good side, Clive and Ces are still clawing their way back up the leader-board, according to the official results, and with 5 weeks to go, stamina and a maniac competitive streak are on their side.

Finally, for those of you who do not understand the "Dear Nuala" reference in the heading, I can explain.   Each time, I write "Day 1", "Day 2", etc, I can´t help but think of the Frank Kelly hilarious remake of the old Christmas song.   When Karen and I did our Alps to Arctic run in June, we would hum the tune each morning (not in public obviously).    In case you´ve never heard it before, sit back and be entertained ...

Hmmm .... as penalty for not getting blog posts to you all on time, I think we should require Clive and Ces to write and record a 12 Days of P2P.

Day 6 - Clive and Ces are catching up time rapidly

2010-09-15T09:16:00.000-07:00

´evening all

Your worst nightmares have been realised .... no, no ... Clive and Ces are fine .... but the GhostPostWriter is back ...

... and all because not a squeak has been heard today from our hardy pair of rallyists.    It´s already midnight in Mongolia, so we can assume that no blog update is going to arrive today.

But I can assure you all that no news is good news.    Clive and Ces are fine.   In fact, if my interpretation of the official reports is correct, Clive and Ces were 4th fastest in today´s Timed Stage. and 2nd fastest in their class.    Even better news is that they were faster than their nemisis in the identical Fangio Chevy.   The not-so-good news is that the fastest time was set by a 72-year-old Aussie driving a Holden!

So you would think that Clive would have been really eager to get an update to us.   And I´m sure that he was.   But he and Ces are staying in a Yurt tent tonight, so Wifi may not be one of the features of their accommodation!!

To give you a sense of the situation, may I quote Syd Stelvio who creates the official reports (I must ask Clive if Syd Stelvio is his real name ... especially since I´ve just come from the Stelvio Pass ... maybe Syd´s another ghost!!!) ...

Tonight, we are all in Yurts, the white round portable cabins made of thick layers of horsehair and cashmere carpeting which is wrapped around a basket-weave construction, we all have little log-stoves in the centre and a chimney with a generous hole in the roof.   As darkness falls across this vast open plain at Bayanuur, a chilly air is rolling down the hillsides that flank this remarkable valley, and most of us are digging out our sleeping bags for extra covering on the camp beds.

We have dined out on bowls of chicken stew, lamb stew, rice, chips, bean salad, and a choice of two soups for starters.   A lack of tables and chairs meant a crowded dining hall, with several crews sitting on the floor… the atmosphere is remarkably good humoured and rarely does any rally experience such a united sense of camaraderie as this.

To give you a sense of what a Yurt tent looks like ... it´s somewhere between these two ....

might look like this if you booked through a reliable agency

and this one ...

might look like this if you are on a DIY holiday

We all look forward to hearing the real story from Clive ... just as soon as he gets an enterprising Mongolian to weld up a sturdy internet connection.

On behalf of the C-couple.

PS: The next rest day is only 6 days away.

Day 5 - Rest Day @ Chinggis Khan Hotel ... somewhere abroad?

2010-09-14T08:48:00.000-07:00

So, we woke this morning after a bit of a lie in ... all the way to 7.30am. We had a leisurely breakfast and then made our way to check out the leader board.

On Day 3, when the ignition coils had failed, we ended the day´s rally in 46th place overall and 28th in class. At the end of Day 4, we were 35th overall and 12th in class. This is a LONG hard rally and I am committed to putting in my best possible result ..... so watch this space!

After devouring the yummy comestibles of breakfast, I looked long and hard at Fugly and found the following issues:

1. Radiator Mountings have broken away top and bottom. Only the cable ties are preventing the huge radiator going into the razor-sharp metal cooling fan. (did cable ties exist in 1938? ... Peter)

2. Fuel filters look like they´re full of crap. The fuel pump on the main tank is noisy and hunting for fuel, even though the tank is half-full.

3. Replacement ignition coils need to be fitted.

4. New 16" tyres need to appear!

As I mentioned before (remember the jack), Ces is very organised and has a daily check-list that she marks off on a laminated sheet using a chinograph pencil. This list includes greasing the nipples, so I always like to ask if she'd like a hand-greasing for her nipples? I usually get the kind of look that says not. So whilst Ces greased her nipples and checked tyre pressures, oil and water levels, checked wheel bearings, cleaned all the glass and checked lights etc, her female counterparts on other teams went shopping or visited the spa!

The chap next to me in his Rolls-Royce explained to his wife in some detail what would happen if she went ahead with the proposed purchase of a lovely rug she'd seen. So, instead, she returned with an enormous wicker picnic basket. My nipple-greasing team-mate is definitely the best!

When I started removing the radiator, the most important repair of all, yet another local appeared and said that he could get it all re-welded within 20 minutes. So together we removed the rad and off he went. To be honest, if the tyre/wheel repair man from the previous night failed to re-appear with the 16" tyre, I could still start the rally, but without the 1938 Chevrolet radiator, my race would be well and truly over.

To take my mind off this worry, I again offered Ces help with her nipples, but having been rejected yet again, I cleaned the fuel filters and flushed the fuel pumps through, tidied up all round and then noticed that the 11am due time for my wheel/tyre had passed. He was still not back by noon, but worse, my radiator man was also nowhere to be seen either. Then I was told that one of the recovery trucks from the previous day´s timed stages had also disappeared, together with the 3 broken rally cars on its back. Anyway, trusting in human nature as I always do (I´m sure that I just heard a thunder clap ... Peter), I assumed that they'll be back ... while at the same time seeking out the translator and the telephone number of the local police!

Clive, you didn´t supply a photo ... so can you confirm that this is your welding specialist?

Almost at the same time, the wheel/tyre and 2 coils arrived as did my radiator man.   Total cost?

- Radiator totally re-soldered top and bottom and new brackets welded ... USD100
- New 16" 8-ply tyre (you can't get those), plus 2 new coils ... USD300
-  Not having to call the police ... priceless!

With the much appreciated help of Simon Ayris, we re-fitted the radiator, drilling the mouting holes larger to reduce the strain on the rad.   We also added some rubber blocks to enable some flex on the rough stages, and I extended the top hose to give more flex.

Then we fitted the new Russian coils. This was not a problem, except that neither terminal had positive or negative symbols.   Instead they had some Russian cyrillic writing.   After some guesswork, I fitted both coils and turned the ignition .... to be met with a huge blue flash from the fuse box and the smell of burning.

I killed the ignition and immediatley swapped the connections over, replaced the fuse and tried again .... to be met, yet again, with a huge blue flash etc etc ....   To cut a long story short, if any of you would like 2 free Russian coils please let me know ... there are 2 nestled comfortably in the bin beside me!

(Clive, "positive" in Russian is положительный and "negative" is отрицательный ... but I guess it´s too little too late ... as it didn´t seen to work whichever way you attached them ... Peter)

So, as I type ,we've spent 10 hours of our rest-day fixing the car in the freezing cold (how can weather change so quickly?). But now Fugly runs great and sounds great. And with the new radiator mounts, we can push and push ... and then push some more ... without fear of the putting the fan through the radiator.

Tomorrow ... who knows ... I am living for today! (yeah right ... Clive is secretly working out how he can leapfrog that other Fangio Chevy Coupe ... don´t you think ... Peter)

CD & Ces

We're back on-line and still en route to Paris!

2010-09-14T07:52:00.000-07:00

Firstly a big thanks to Peter Horan for writing our blog when I was simply too tired and couldn't access the blogsite from China ... where it's forbidden.

When I used http://www.vtunnel.com/ to get around their "firewall", I found that the next day my computer would no longer log-on to the hotels Internet system ..... Probably just a concidence! It's a shame because they are really nice, genuine people.

Where do I start?

Day 1 - The Great Wall to Daihai

As you all know, on Day 1 the timed stage was cancelled and we had an extended travel day to the city of Daihai. During the night I was eaten alive by mosquitos, even though it's apparently not the season and the price of beer was increased by 400% as the night went on.

Amazing wildlife out here ....

So when I got out of bed on the morning of Day 2, I felt about 5% and was itching all over, even though Ces said "You´re just making a fuss!"

Day 2 - Daihai to Erenhot

The 2nd day was yet another travel day, this time to the city of Erenhot. Today was all about racking-up the miles needed as we headed to the wilds of Mongolia ....

The hotel on the night of Day 2 was brilliant! It had air-conditioning (it's still 27 degrees here at night and if you open the window, my little biting mates come in) and a strange pillow filled with dried beans ( I must get one!) .... The smallest things matter when you're so tired.

Day 3 - Erenhot to the Chinese border

Hotel Car Park - Morning of Day 3

Getting Ready on Day 3

Just about ready - Day 3

I am pleased to say that the crossing into Mongolia only took 2 hours, which is really good in this kind of environment. Even better, we now made our way to the first timed stage!!!!

China-Mongolia Border - only 2 hour wait

Waiting to cross into Mongolia ... totally chilled out ... good acting, eh

Timed Stage 1 went really very well and I felt that we would be holding our own against my team mate and nemisis, Steve Hyde.

Fangio Chevy Team Mates

Onto Timed Stage 2, where again we were flying .... not so hard as to break the car but fast enough across such rough terrain. While we were tootling along at about 104 kph, the car just died. It was as thought the ignition had been turned-off. I checked the fuel filters, the fuel lines and then finally the sparkplugs. They were dead!

Checking the fuel filters

F.I.I.K. what the problem is ...
(or else snoozing in the shade)

I worked through the ignition system starting at the points and then changed over to my spare coil.... still nothing. At this point I knew I was beaten and I called for mechanical assistance. To cut a long story short, the coil had failed and the spare in the car was also a dud!!!

We eventually got the car started and, after 2 hours lost time, we continued on the stage, knowing that yet again fate had dealt us a poor hand. (I seem to recall the old motto of PPPPPP ... Peter) But what I have learned from another race competitor (Jon Nicholson) is never give up, not until the chequered flag is waived.

We were permitted to enter the final stage of the day, Timed Stage 3, but the sun was setting and we were racing due West. I am not making excuses when I say that I could see nothing, just brilliant sunshine and sand dust. I pushed as hard as I dare, but I was also aware that in Timed Stage 2, our radiator has broken a top mounting and there was a real risk that it would fall back into the metal engine fan! I decided that for us, the day´s racing was over so I picked a careful route through the potholes and ruts so that we would live to fight another day.

The accommodation for the night of day 3 was in tents beside the Trans-Monglian rail line. Of course, given the shenanigans reported earlier, not to mention the 40-minute incorrect detour into the desert, we arrived at the campsite in total darkness. Ces and I were relaxed and calm ... not a angry word was spoken in our car ... in fact, no words were spoken ... but quite a few were screamed!!

Just in case you were wondering who´s on top ...

On the positive side, the showers were brilliant, as was the warm beer. Maybe I could have even enjoyed the novelty of the tents, but not the bloody racket made all-night-long by these 1-kilometre-long trains!

They never stop ...

Day 4 - The Campsite to Ulaan Baatar, Capital of Mongolia

Ready for Day 4 ... albeit with a broken radiator mount

Today, we left from the campsite in the middle of the desert and made our way to our Timed Stage 1 for today. We've still got the broken radiator mounts, so we still have to strike a balance between flat out and broken down. And remember that broken down means not only total failure but abandonment in Mongolia. I can tell you that this focuses the mind!

Despite cable ties keeping the radiator in place, we made all three Times Stages today. I was just a little chuffed, so I breathed a sigh and relaxed ... just for a moment. This provoked an instant response from the gods. The rear offside tyre exploded at quite high speed. I discovered that losing a tyre at 80 mph in a 70+ year old 2-tonne car is nothing like the same in my XKR, but we stopped OK Clearly the gods were giving me a warning, not a ticket. BTW, I had been told in the UK that I´d be unlikely to find a 16" tyre in these parts, so this leaves us with one spare to cover the remaining 15,000kms ....

When we arrived at the hotel in Ulaan Baatar, a local mechanic was there attempting to pick-up some impromptu business! So for USD300, he agreed to supply and fit 2 new coils and a new 16" tyre! The coils are from Russian trucks and the tyre will be from who knows where, but to be honest, who cares! (be careful, Clive, the gods are watching out for counterfeiters ... or is this a marketing lead? ... Peter).

He's also taking me to his workshop the re-weld the radiator. I tell you, these people are great and very service-oriented ... no wonder their economy is taking off!

As I write, we're about to go to dinner in our 5-star hotel. Upon arrival, Ces was given a ticket for a cocktail party in our honour tomorrow evening ... the ticket clearly stated "Please wear a gown". Hmmm, how to transform grubby Castrol overalls into a gown ... that would be a challenge even for Trinny and Suzannah ... perhaps their next series could be entitled "What not to wear to a Mongolia Ball!".

Tomorrow (Tuesday) is a rest day and we're waiting for today´s results. At the moment we've been placed in 41st overall postion and I think 13th in class but this relates to our breakdown day so, from now on, it's push, push, push.....

And now for a word from our sponsor ...

I'll let you know how dinner goes and how the repairs pan out!

CD & Ces

Good news ... the ghost has been exorcised ...

2010-09-13T10:26:00.000-07:00

You will all be pleased to know that Clive and Ces have arrived safely in Ulaan Baatar ... and have drafted a blow-by-blow account of the last 2-3 days ... meaning that the ghost-post-writer (err, that´s me) will be put back into the silent, invisible box where he belongs ...

I have some images from Clive and Ces ... but the tall tales of the desert will not be with us until tomorrow. Meanwhile, you can get a sense of the fun and fury of the event from the following couple of examples ...

Two characters from Clockwork Orange waiting at the China-Mongolian border.

Wake me up when the guage is back below 500 degrees ...

This post intentionally left blank

2010-09-12T10:43:00.000-07:00

Good morning and evening, followers of Clive and Ces.

This is Peter here, Clive´s ghost post writer in Switzerland.    Today was a double whammy.   Clive texted me to say that he and Ces were very well, but much too shattered to write a blog this evening (ie. Sat 11-Sep-2010).   He said that he´d write one while waiting (for hours and hours) at the Mongolian border.   I said "No sweat, I´ll create a placeholder".

Little did I know that my drive from Stelvio (for the annual Lotus gathering) to the Dolomites would leave me with an internet-free evening.   So apologies to those of you who couldn´t face a weekend without knowing the gory details of Clive´s P2P progress.

In consolation, Clive and Ces should be in Mongolia this evening.   With an emerging democracy, Mongolia will have no qualms about internet access.   But with an emerging infrastructure (especially in Clive and Ces´ yuert tent), access to the internet might be little more than aspirational.

Just as the teams in the P2P have to be resourceful (like the Australians who made one big-end shim from a Sprite can and another using the wafer thin aluminium from a cigarette packet), we ghost-post-writers also have to be resourceful.    So with the benefit the landlady´s laptop, but without any carrier pidgeon from Clive, I resorted to reading the official site´s daily reports.   In it, I discovered that Clive and Ces had a failed coil today in Mongolia, that their spare coil was a dud, but that the mobile support unit was able to get them going again.

More excitingly, I discovered that their yuert tent is within metres of a stop on the Trans-Siberian railway.   So next year, when Karen and I are scheduled to do the Trans-Sib, we´ll keep an eye out for discarded 1938 Chevy bits and pieces.

For those of you who like spinning your globes or opening your Times Altas across the dining table, I leave you with a map of their course on Day 1 (Beijing to the start at The Great Wall and then onto Daihai ... this was the day when timings were cancelled) and Day 2 (Daihai to Erenhot, both in China, for which we do not have the gory details).

Day 3 (Sunday 12th) runs from Erenhot China to Sainshand in Mongolia ... see map below.

Fingers crossed for an offical report from the front line tomorrow ..... ciao for now ... cos I gotta give the laptop back to the accommodating landlady.

Peter (on behalf of Clive and Ces)

The Great Wall .....

2010-09-10T09:31:00.000-07:00

After a 5am wake-up call, we loaded the car and went for breakfast. In rallying, breakfast truly is the most important meal of the day, because it's from the breakfast buffet selection that you make your DIY lunch doggy bag! We arrived for breakfast at 6.30am and from what was left, we realised that we were getting rusty .... we ended up with 2 dry baguettes for our mobile lunch.

Finally, after months of planning, car building and form filling we eventually arrived at the start line ... which was alongside The Great Wall of China ... as you can see from the piccies below.

The traffic on the way to the start had been horrendous and this caused the start to be delayed by an hour and, worse still, all the timings for the day had to be cancelled.   So the day became a transit leg to tonight's hotel in Daihai, China.

After an hour or so, the traffic started to thin out and the never-ending stream of lorries began to disappear, meaning that we could at last open the taps on Fugly and see how 6 weeks at sea had effected him.   I am pleased to report that, even on 93 octane fuel, he didn't miss a beat and pulled strongly.   But he did get through an alarming amount of the aforementioned fuel!

Way in the back of my mind, it re-ignited the concern that we may not have the correct fuel tanks for this job.   In any event, it's too late to make any changes now.    As I mentioned in an earlier post, we'll find out the correct answer soon enough.

While on mechanical topics, I've noticed a minor oil leak from the gearbox spline that connects to the propshaft but at this moment in time it's really not a worry.    All-in-all the car's running very well and feels very strong.

When we arrived at the hotel, Ces started working through her daily maintenance sheet and then asked a somewhat tricky question.

"If the jack is pumped up all the way ... and it still can't lift the car ... does that matter?"

To say that I became anxious would be an understatement ... until I realised how tired we both were ... and that we simply needed to move the jack nearer to the rear suspension hangers ... and Fugly rose off the ground. Breathe in, breathe out, relax! Not the easiest thing to do when it's still 28 degrees!

Tomorrow, we head to another city in China ... called Erenhot ... still enroute to Mongolia.

Total distance today was 398 kms and tomorrow will be 509 kms. The distances are growing all the time. I already feel quite tired and it's only day one!
(take courage Clive, day 1 is always tough ... adrenalin, excitement, etc ... you'll get trail-hardened shortly, and then you'll be loving it ... shame that Clive can't see my words of encouragement cos he's still in internet-constrained China ... Peter)

Later people.

CD & Ces

Kick his balls. No! the ones on the lawn!

2010-09-09T08:56:00.000-07:00

Last night we all gathered for cocktails on the hotel lawn, which reminded me of an old Jasper Carrot joke that involves an over-amourous dog, a policeman's leg and a tennis ball, but that's another story...

Anyway back to events in Beijing....

Today (Thursday) we prepared the car for scrutineering and I also spanner-checked every bolt and gave every jubilee clip another turn after yesterday's 'incident' at the warehouse collection point. The car seems tight and ready. My biggest concern is whether or not we have big enough fuel tanks. We're running with 120 litres of fuel and this seems to be as close to the limit as you want to be with a thirsty 4.0 litre engine. I guess that only time and the Gobi desert will tell.

The car park at the hotel has been competely taken over by the rally and was a hive of activity throughout the day.

Even Ces has now finally agreed that we're ready and her fiddling and fretting has stopped.

We sat through a 2 hour briefing this afternoon which was vitally important but confirmed that my jet-lag has now finally passed! We covered breakdowns, borders, policemen and accidents. I hope we meet and need none of the above.

The car is now fully loaded with water, food, GPS navigation systems, satellite telephone, iPod, clothes, tools and spares.

All it needs now is us!

We're required to be at The Great Wall by 7.30am tomorrow ... ready for our 8.34am start. Despite the gala dinner tonight, it will be early-to-bed and (I hope) another solid night's sleep.

I wonder if any of you would like to make a prediction ....about the content of any of tomorrow's uploaded pics?

To finish first, first you have to finish!

(hmmm ... given the comment about a night's sleep and the contents of the photos, this expression should be amended to ... "to finish first, first you have to finish,, and to do that, you have to start!" ... Peter)
CD & Ces

UPDATE: bicycles up to 10 million ... and blog posts up to 2

2010-09-08T03:56:00.000-07:00

Well blog fans, here's another brief update for Wednesday 8th September.

After a short introduction and briefing given by the Chief of Beijing Traffic Police, we were duly given our Chinese driving licences and local car registration plates. I particularly liked the fact that we were properly saluted ... twice ... by a Senior Office.

We were then transported by coach to collect our cars from a warehouse facility near the airport.

As you can see the warehouse was jam-packed with all our cars and some 40 minutes after arriving I was able to pull forward and out of the fume-filled hangar.

As I did so I could see from the looks on the locals' faces that something was wrong with Fugly ...

I can only assume that during transit the bottom radiator hose had worked loose because, as I queued to exit the warehouse, Fugly promptly dumped the entire contents of his radiator. After an initial surge of panic and scanning the block for a crack, I saw the bottom hose hanging off.   I re-attached the hose, scrounged a huge amount of water and we were away into the Chinese traffic ... hoping that all would now be well.

We're now back at the hotel.   Along the way, we were waved at by most of the population of Beijing.   These are the most welcoming and friendly people that I have ever encountered on an Endurance rally .... Let's hope this spririt of friendship continues throughout the entire route!

We are now off to a cocktail party with free drinks, which is good because my initial calculation of 65 pence per pint turned out to be £6.50. (Bloody Nora!! ... Peter) My British army t-shirt and quick-dry trousers are a sight to behold!

Tomorrow is scrutineering and then final prep before the rally proper starts on Friday.    My hope is that we have already suffered our quota of mechanical mishaps for the entire trip!

CD & Ces

There are 9 million bicycles in Beijing.......

2010-09-08T00:03:00.000-07:00

Once again I was wide awake this morning at 4am local time before eventually going back to sleep at 7am, to then find my 9am start an almost impossible feat. Ces has made the transition fairly smoothly and has managed to snore her way through the whole night.

I feel I should point out that due to some Internet issues, I cannot access my blogsite directly from Beijing (what a surprise!), so instead my text is emailed to a friend in Switzerland who is posting the comments on my behalf. So a big thank you to Peter Horan. Consequently I get to make comments about Ces' snoring now and then and by the time she gets to read them, I can blame Peter for inserting some additional unapproved text! (Clive doesn't realise that censorship by an Irisman, albeit living in rule-bound Switzerland, is far more unpredictable than censorship by Chinese Internet police ... Peter)

Yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon, we booked a car and guide from the hotel and visited Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City ... everything we needed to know was explained by our local guide 'Alice'.

Tian'anmen Square is an impressive area in the centre of Beijing used for parades, government days, etc and it appears to have mass coach tours. The numbers of tourists, mostly Chinese, are closely matched by the security present to ensure our safety. We asked Alice who all the plain clothed people alongside the soldiers were, but she said she didn't know ... she'd asked them on previous visits and they wouldn't tell her.

2 scary characters

2 other scary characters

The Forbidden City was significantly rebuilt/restored prior to the 2008 Olympics and is a very impressive range of buildings spread over an enormous area, which is 'amazing' as Alice repeatedly exclaimed. There is an 'amazing' collection of historic articles on display from the time of the last emporer and at times it really did feel like a filmset. As special guests we were taken to a quiet area, which by coincidence led into an art-gallery where we met the last decendant of the last emporer, who for a fee could write our name in local calligraphy. It was such a shame that Ces and I had limited space in our car and had to decline, because my love for craft is well known ..... .

taking tea in the garden

After the walking tour of 3 hours, we returned to the comfort of our air-conditioned hotel car and started our journey back to Shangri-La (the hotel, not the heavenly place of old). On the way Alice asked if we'd like to take part in a very special tea tasting. I had a special drink on my mind alright but it wasn't tea. Anyway Ces said we'd love to and a few moments later we were slurping tea like professionals. I did have a WAV sound file of this but to protect you the reader/listener I've decided not to upload it. We purchased some Black Dragon tea (I found room in the car) and this should keep us going over the next 6 weeks.

Now that we were all getting on like a house on fire, Alice dropped some devasting news on me.

"You know English singer with song about 9 million bicycles in Beijing?" she asked.
"Yes" I replied "Katie Melua"
"She's wrong, there are 10 million", Alice exclaimed, and added "also Beijing is registering 2000 news cars on the road each week and sometimes it peaks at 18,000 new cars each quarter"
I made all the right noises but actually was wondering how the hell Katie is going to update her lyrics?

Today (Wednesday) we're about to go and collect the car and I am going to start writing my blogs in the evenings here, so there may be another update later depending on how many issues we have with Fugly.

Seeing you soon.

Xie Xie

CD

PS by Swiss-Irish Hacker (oops, I meant Bureau Chief):
Now that everybody is in a relaxed tea-drinking mood, those of you outside China can sit back and listen to the original 9 million bicycles by Katie Melua .... Clive won't get to enjoy this until he's in Mongolia ...

I wonder if my clubcard will work?

2010-09-06T23:44:00.000-07:00

(if you're reading this in the comfort of your own country, our stealth carrier pidgeon has successfully reached the 38ChevyP2P communications nerve centre in central Europe)

Well we're here! According to my wristwatch the time is 10:50am. According to my body-clock, however, it's 3:50am. After a fairly broken night's sleep, we've woken to the news that there is a tropical storm building to the East of us and should be arriving in Beijing tomorrow (Wednesday).

The storm is not such an issue. The real issue is that the heavy rains that accompany it are tracking due West and ... you guessed it ... after passing through Beijing will cross into Mongolia and onto the very plains where the P2P is scheduled to go. If that happens, the normally hard dry surface will turn into something approaching The Somme (for you youngsters who are wondering what the Somme is, check your history books circa 1916). Rather than have to call out the CAA tow-truck ...

... all vehicular traffic grinds to a halt and waits for the surface to bake hard again.   The good news is that Tiger beer is the equivalent of 65 pence per pint, so every potential rain cloud has a silver lining.

Today (Tuesday) we're simply kicking our heels and trying to adjust to the time zone before we collect Fugly the Chevy tomorrow.   Then we'll see how well, or otherwise, the anti-condensation system that we installed has worked. If it's done its job, Fugly's interior should look just like it did when it left the UK.   If it's not lived up to its promise, we'll have a morning removing mould from the leather and cloth surfaces!

The flight to Beijing was uneventful and I can now cross "must travel first class" off from my list. I knew it was going to be better than Business Class when I requested a glass of champagne and the response was "white or rosé, sir?".... although I might have revealed my non-aristocratic origins by having one of each!   The much-talked-about flat-bed was surprisingly comfortable, but folded-flat-seat would be a more accurate description.

When we arrived in Beijing, we were greeted at the aircraft door by the airport butler, whose job was to take us through the customs procedures and to our hotel car. I should explain that I'd pre-booked transport from the airport to remove some of the stress ... but I hadn't expected the enormous stretched black Mercedes, complete with blacked-out windows!    (Hmmm ... note to self ... check the provenance of that Mercedes ... perhaps it was a stretched Toyota with plastic surgery ... this is China after all) .   Once wafted away from the airport, it was a 40 minute drive to the hotel, where we were taken directly to our room by the Duty Manager. She was there to meet the VIPs and apparently we were the VIPs! .... All I can say is that £80 gets you quite a taxi ride here in Beijing!!

Our hotel is very smart and I suspect that it's all downhill from here until we finally make Paris (fingers crossed).   For dinner I selected the Wagyu beef  (Click here to read about Wagyu Beef) and all the stories of Chinese meats being questionable dissappeared.    This is my kind of roughing it!

Well that's it for now.   We're off to see the Forbidden City, Tianenmen Square and the local Tesco's for some bottled water and provisions for the rally.   I wonder if my clubcard will work!

CD

Nervous, who, me?

2010-09-04T01:20:00.000-07:00

Hi All

Well today's the day that the final preparations are underway.

I know we're getting near because my 40th birthday present Rolex has been swapped for a very cheap looking plastic G-shock watch and my wife has told me to take off my wedding ring! Apparently a trapped wedding ring or similar is a sure way to lose a finger whilst diving in to fix a roadside mechanical breakdown and the medical crews only have a hacksaw to take it off... the ring I am told, not the finger!

My wallet has been emptied of all but the essential items and so instead of the usual collection of credit cards, hotel cards, business cards and all the other associated crap of being a businessman, I am left with 2 x credit cards, a driving licence and some cash. I know it's serious when my Tesco clubcard has been removed...

The flight tomorrow leaves Heathrow for Beijing (Peking) at 4.30pm but Ces is keen to arrive as early as possible for the flight, as we have elected to travel First Class with BA and as she says "I want to get value for money".... I anticipate a hole in their champagne stocks!

On Tuesday of this week in anticipation of a 1000kms Endurance Race at Brands Hatch in November, I entered a practice session with my son (Chris) and my friend Adam Bewsey.
My company http://www.intellekt.com/ part-sponsors Adam to race in the Elise Trophy http://www.elisetrophy.com/ and over his first season he's had some mixed results. Having been lucky enough to perform well in a few classic rally events and some sports car events (http://www.guildofmotorendurance.com/) I have collected quite a bit of silverware and have been teasing Adam about his dry spell.
Rather foolishly, I said to him "How hard can it be, turn up, key-in, drive around in a circle a bit and win"
His response was to suggest that if it was that easy, I should enter to 1000kms Endurance Race with him as his team mate....

So one ARDS test later (Racing Licence) here I was in a racing Lotus Elise S1 on the Indy circuit at Brands... It was at this point I thought, god I hope I don't crash and injure myself before the Peking-to-Paris! Forward planning has never been my strong point....

Anyway my first lap time was 1:02 and Adam responded with 57 seconds. So throwing caution to the wind, I thought I'd push myself a "little" harder and reduced my time to 58.9 seconds... The thing I noticed as I climbed out the car was that Adam hadn't looked at all flustered when he set his 57 seconds, whereas I was shaking some much I couldn't undo my crash helmet! Incidentally, my son on his first outing in the car set a time of 58.1 seconds. I put this down to the fact that he was running a lighter fuel load.... ;-)

How hard can it be...... well we'll see!

Nervous now!

Speak soon

CD

In the immortal words of 80's rock/pop group Europe; "It's the final countdown"

2010-08-28T07:28:00.000-07:00

Just over a week to go now and today was spent packing the luggage for the 6 week journey.

Over the years Ces has become somewhat of an expert in travelling light, but even I am concerned that this time she's gone too far!

I have been allocated 4 x T-shirts, 6 x pairs of pants and the same amount of socks, plus 2 x pairs of trousers and some boots. Apparently the wet/cold weather gear is already in Fugly and will be there to meet us when we arrive. When I expressed some concern about the limited clothing, I was told that weight would be our enemy and that she'd wash our clothes en route.

Two things sprang to mind. Firstly I've lost 20kilos since our last rally, so thought I could have some of that back in clothing and secondly, although we're going to be starting our journey in China, and the Chinese are reknown for their laundry services, I am not sure we'll find many laundry companies in the Gobi desert....

Anyway, that's settled..... I'll be taking as detailed above!

We're also taking some British Army ration packs, enough for 4 x days just in case we do a Mark Thatcher and 'find' ourselves lost in the desert. At least that way we'll have something to moan about whilst we wait for rescue.

Well blog fans, that's it for now....

Just over 2 weeks till it starts ...

2010-08-23T05:41:00.000-07:00

It's been a bit hectic, as you can imagine. The devil is in the detail, they say, and that's exactly where I've been recently ... in the detail of insurances, communications, evening wear, and most important of all, ensuring that the business runs smoothly while Ces and I are shaking ourselves senseless across the wastes of Asia.

The Chevy is already in a container on a ship trying to avoid pirates enroute to China. We'll be heading off in early September to become reacquainted with the Chevy.

In the meantime, let me formally introduce you to Fugly. I don't like the parallel with Madonna, but I did retrieve the original Fugly (and his 2 brothers) from South Africa, and paid for them to be brought to the lovely England. Here, they were put into the care of a nutty professor who combined the best parts of all 3 into the Fugly that is now very muscular, very versatile, and completely proven.

For more details, just click on the Fugly (the Chevy) link at the side.